One question I get frequently in regard to the Stupa of Treasures and the great bodhisattvas rising out of the ground is, did this really occur or is this some imaginary story? For me as I understand the Lotus Sutra, this is an imaginary or made-up story that we are encouraged to make real. By our own faith and practice we can make this grand drama a reality in our own lives. It isn’t something that someone else can do for any of us. Did this really happen? Not if by that you mean did it happen like we sent a man to the moon, or the Trade Center Towers in New York were demolished by planes flying into them. And yet, for the individual or group of individuals who created these chapters of the Lotus Sutra, I do not think their intent was to communicate actual factual events that could be witnessed with our simple physical eyes and ears and so forth.

I believe the events recounted in this grand drama were real in describing the wonder, the awe, the experiences of enlightenment through realizing the truth contained in the Lotus Sutra – the truth that we are all Buddhas, that we contain infinity, time without measure, that our lives are small examples of the immense cosmos, and that life is beyond measure.

Four leaders of the Bodhisattvas who emerged from the ground are named, and they are Superior-Practice, Limitless-Practice, Pure-Practice, and Steadily-Established-Practice. I think it is important to note that practice lies at the heart of their names. In Nichiren’s writing titled Shoho Jiso Sho we are encouraged to practice and endeavor because without practice and without study there really is no such thing as Buddhism. At the heart of Buddhism is making great effort at practicing and changing our lives, something that does not happen without concerted continued effort.

The great bodhisattvas who have emerged from the ground go up to the sky and bow before the great stupa with the two Buddhas seated side by side. Then they return to the ground, go around and greet each of the emanation Buddhas one by one, after which the Bodhisattvas return to the sky. This activity takes a great deal of time, fifty kalpas we are told, and yet the time only seemed to be no more than half a day to those who witnessed it due to the great power of the Buddha. Notice here that these Bodhisattvas had complete freedom of movement, they could go up to the sky, they could return to the ground and travel about, and they could then again return to the sky. This is in sharp contrast to the members of the original assembly who had to be raised up by the power of the Buddha.

These Bodhisattvas from beneath the ground not only have the marks and characteristics of the Buddha, they also have the powers of the Buddha.

By doing the peaceful practices we will create the kind of peaceful lives that further reflects and enhances our practice. It is sort of like an endless feedback loop that keeps replenishing and enhancing.

I imagine that some will say, yes, but Nichiren was pretty harsh with some of the people of his time, and shouldn’t we too carry out that same strict rhetoric as we engage with people who don’t believe in the Lotus Sutra? To this I say these are two different situations. For one thing, there are few of us today whose lives are threatened and for whom death is a constant possibility because of our practice. We live in a time when there are few actual obstacles to practicing our faith either privately or in society. It isn’t that this can’t happen, it is that it isn’t currently happening. In such a situation, even Nichiren stated that we should only use a much more strident approach when absolutely necessary.

When there is no obstacle to practice it is entirely possible to create a false obstacle by our behavior of obstinacy and belligerence. The kinds of obstacles created in those situations are false. I can be a jerk and have people around me treat me poorly, but I can’t claim it is because of my practice when I am not actually following the peaceful practices in a peaceful environment. In an environment that is not hostile we should practice in a non-hostile way. If the reverse becomes true then other measure might be called for.

The fourth of the peaceful practices is our vow, which we should always remember is to ultimately teach others and guide others to the Lotus Sutra. The Buddha instructs us to have great loving-kindness towards practitioners and non-practitioners alike and constantly be thinking of the most skillful way, the most appropriate way to lead them to seek out the Lotus Sutra. When we can practice with a spirit of true generosity to share the teachings of the Lotus Sutra then our lives will be full of great benefit, great friends, and the protection of the entire universe.

When we can be at ease with many others regardless of their belief and practice, when we can respect others even if they do not choose to follow the Lotus Sutra, we create the kind of life that others want to be around. By their association with us they will in turn be praising the Buddha within us that is a result of our practice of the sutra. Because of this praise they offer the Lotus Sutra, even if indirectly, they create a great cause of eventually practicing the Lotus Sutra themselves in some future lifetime. When we have the Lotus Sutra truly at the core of our lives we live the kind of life that others wish to know about and be around. Our positive influence on those lives causes other great benefit.

We each may think we are rather ordinary people, not capable of great things. Yet our ordinariness is in fact a disguise for our true self, Bodhisattvas from beneath the ground, the disciples of the Buddha from the infinite past, and beings perfectly endowed with Buddhahood.